M1 Mobile Manipulator Robot: The Real Johnny 5

The M1 Mobile Manipulator robot is made by Meka Robotics, a San Francisco company which got started by MIT roboticists. The robot plans to be worth more than the sum of its parts and it slightly reminds me of Johnny 5 from Short Circuit.

The M1 has an omni-directional base, optional heads, hands, and sensors – all designed to help an operator or application remotely manipulate stuff. Later this year, Meka will even release a modular head with a Microsoft Kinect sensor.